For This Purpose, The Most Commodious Station That We Could Take
Was Armidel, Which Sir Alexander Macdonald Had Now Left To A
Gentleman, Who Lived There As His Factor Or Steward.
In our way to Armidel was Coriatachan, where we had already been,
and to which therefore we were very willing to return.
We staid
however so long at Talisker, that a great part of our journey was
performed in the gloom of the evening. In travelling even thus
almost without light thro' naked solitude, when there is a guide
whose conduct may be trusted, a mind not naturally too much
disposed to fear, may preserve some degree of cheerfulness; but
what must be the solicitude of him who should be wandering, among
the craggs and hollows, benighted, ignorant, and alone?
The fictions of the Gothick romances were not so remote from
credibility as they are now thought. In the full prevalence of the
feudal institution, when violence desolated the world, and every
baron lived in a fortress, forests and castles were regularly
succeeded by each other, and the adventurer might very suddenly
pass from the gloom of woods, or the ruggedness of moors, to seats
of plenty, gaiety, and magnificence. Whatever is imaged in the
wildest tale, if giants, dragons, and enchantment be excepted,
would be felt by him, who, wandering in the mountains without a
guide, or upon the sea without a pilot, should be carried amidst
his terror and uncertainty, to the hospitality and elegance of
Raasay or Dunvegan.
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